Tasty juice

The kids woke up this morning, and the first question out of their mouths was, "when can we go to Ashlyn and Marissa's birthday party?" So it was a foregone conclusion that we would go with Cameron in tow. Everyone had a grand time. Here is one of Colin's pictures from the party, featuring one of his favorite parts: the great collection of juices and sodas.

The kids call soda "tasty juice" -- and I can't even remember why at this point. But maybe there's a marketing brand wanting to be born here?

Time to swim?

Katie talked about swimming all morning before the party but was decidedly caution when the actual moment came. The water in the main pool was heated, but apparently not to the girl's satisfaction. Here you see her look of concern.

A few minutes later, we found our way to the hot tub. The water in the jacuzzi, was, in her words, "nice and warm" and we spent the rest of our "swim time" there.

Mmmm..yummy party food!

Dino-shaped chicken, mac and cheese, stir-fried rice noodles, canteloupe, watermelon, jello, potato chips with dip and cheese puffs. What's not to like?

Colin and Jeremy clown around

The duo give each other their best funny faces while waiting for ice cream cake.

Katie loves restaurants

Yesterday, I asked Katie to go find mommy and ask if she wanted to go to a restaurant or eat at home. She shuffled down the hallway to find mommy. Now remember -- Katie loves eating, especially eating out. So the way she decided to phrase the question to mommy was, "Mommy, we are going to a restaurant, which one do you want?" :-)

BTW, there's a new all-you-can-eat Asian buffet in Belmont aptly named Indulge. I think the owners are Korean (judging by the writing on the "new business" flower wreaths we saw a few weeks ago), though most of the food is Chinese (e.g., pork buns, fried rice, etc.) or Japanese (e.g., sushi). It opened in the space vacated by the steakhouse which took over Max's Bistro's space at Ralston and El Camino. The sushi seemed very fresh, and we're about to try again so that Fedora can finally indulge her sushi craving. Finally!

Tent!

We set up the Gymini Activity Gym for Cameron. He doesn't seem that interested yet, but Colin and Katherine got into the action by turning the gym into a tent with their favorite binkets (blankets).

Yummy dessert tip of the month

By the way, if you are looking for a yummy, decadent dessert, try the flan at Costco. Mmmm, mmmm, tasty. It's a traditional flan covered liberally with a caramel sauce. As we were checking out, both Costco employees (the checker and the boxer) eyed it longingly.

My mom makes a great flan as well, so we have high standards. The big difference between Costco and mom's? One word: fat. My mom usually makes her with full-fat milk, and the Costco version makes hers seem like it's made with nonfat milk. It'll remind you of cheescake. Tasty! Fedoa is a big fan too. Have I found the next great "make up" food? :-)

Apparently, we're not the first people to commemorate the Costco flan: check out this blog.

(It's Costco-sized, so invite friends over. Or kiss your diet good-bye for the month.)

The Daily Show

Cameron gives us his Jon Stewart look. Hmmmm, could it really be time to torment my parents? Yes, I think so....

(We recently started Tivo'ing the Daily Show. I quite enjoy it. Part of the appeal, I think, is Jon's great facial expressions and gestures.)

Naptime

Ah, we've missed the naptimes where baby flings both his hands above his head, as if trying to signal a touchdown. Here's Cameron halfway to that pose.

We've observed many similarities between all three kids (e.g., sleeplessness, not fitting into any baby clothes, constant pooping). But many differences too. Here are a handful:

• The delivery room has a computer in it now. The nurses used it to periodically feed information (e.g., blood pressure, answers to exam questions such as "have you ever used drugs?"). I noticed it had Internet Explorer on it, but I didn't try surfing. Not sure having Windows in the delivery room is a good idea, but there it is. :-)
  
  
• Shrieking, much shrieking. Maybe we've just blocked Colin and Katie's screams from our memories, but we don't think so. At any rate, Cameron is a shrieker! Maybe this is just the youngest child's way of making sure he gets the attention he's due.
  
  
• 100% drug-free delivery. Fedora had no drugs this time. With the first two, at least she got the mercy dose of fentanyl. But this time, labor progressed so quickly, she didn't even get a chance do that. Eeek. Of course, this gets her a host of priveleges, including the deciding vote in the baby's name.
  
  
• Faster recovery time. Fedora seemed to recover the quickest with baby #3. She was up and about an hour after delivery. At home, she's resumed her normal routine pretty much as she had it before the baby. Probably with more vigor because she's not carrying the baby around inside anymore.
  

Here's one of my favorites shots of big brother Colin during his first week. I take it back: maybe they do look pretty similar. I'm comparing Cameron (who is asleep on my arm this moment) and this picture, and there are lots similarities: particularly, the shape of the head, the ears, and the mouth. Of course, Cameron's looks are changing daily, if not hourly, so we'll see how things evolve.

As Fedora's mom pointed out, Colin did seem to be chubbier despite Cameron's outweighing him a touch (less than 4 ounces).

The grandparents come bearing food...

Fed's parents dropped by with an eye-popping amount of food specifically formulated to speed Fedora's recovery. They enjoyed their visit with Cameron, declaring him the "spitting image of Colin."

We've been looking at Colin's baby pictures (I'll post one later), and while there is definitely a resemblance, they look less alike than I had thought (if that makes any sense).

It's my turn!

Katie gets her daily dose of Vitamin C for Cameron.

Nora and Alyssa come visit -- bearing gifts too!

Nora and Alyssa dropped by to visit with Cameron. He even managed to look awake for part of it -- though not much of it. Colin and Katie have been making out like bandits in terms of gifts. Our friends are thoughtfully including them on the gift list so they don't get jealous. Thanks all!

He's doing the typical newborn thing: sleeping and eating most of the day, and then wailing like a banshee in the wee hours of the night. Maybe we've just forgotten what it's like -- but Cameron does seem to be more, um, demanding than his siblings. He's certainly louder. :-)

The expert baby holder

Alyssa looks like an expert baby holder.

I can't wait to take New Baby home!

Both Colin and Katie have been quite anxious to bring new baby home. They both demanded turns holding the baby. Interestingly, so have most of the kids who have come by to visit. I'm not sure what the appeal for them is, but it seems universal. Here they are Day 2.

Neato: a baby!

The Wong clan comes to check out the baby. In general, girls seem more interested in the baby than boys. But having said that, the current crop of boys at church is a small one, so I'm not sure we have enough of a sample size to draw any definitive conclusions.

Rachel and the baby

Here's Rachel taking her turn with the baby. It's amazing how fast all the kids are growing up!

More visitors

Chris and Yvonne dropped by to say hello. Frank and the kids were at home, so we missed the festivities. But not New Baby!

Yum: hospital food!

Colin has very fond memories of the hospital food that came for mommy with Katie. Now we have two devote fans. Who would have thunk? :-)

Introducing Cameron Matthew Chen

Well, after a straw poll of some 20 people and some hasty last second negotiations at the hospital, Fedora and I are pleased to present Cameron Matthew Chen to his adoring public. The general consensus of the two options we offered to people (Cameron Dylan vs. Dylan Cameron) leaned towards Cameron Dylan.

But mom wanted a more classic treament for his middle name, and thus after brief flirtations with Cameron Nicholas, Cameron Philip, and Cameron Nathaniel, and Cameron Sameul, we settled on Cameron Matthew.

Katie and her brother

Since we've waited until the last minute to pick a name, Katie wants to call her baby brother New Baby (as we've been doing these past months). We're trying to break her of the habit by having her call him either di di (Mandarin for "younger brother") or Cameron. But it's slow going. Both kids still call him New Baby.

Colin and Katie welcome New Baby

Colin and Katie were delighted to welcome their new brother to the family. They fought for turns to hold new baby, though I have to confess I think their tussles over the pretzels might have been more passionate. :-)

The baby's face is covered with some sort of cream that they apply to infant eyes to ward off infection.

It's a boy!

Praise God: it's a boy!

Dylan Cameron Chen (or Cameron Dylan Chen -- vote for your favorite by leaving a comment!) was both yesterday shortly before 6 pm.

He was born measuing 20 inches and weighing in at 7 pounds, 5 ounces (just between Katie and Colin).

Hats off to Fedora, who delivered without pain medication of any sort this time -- not enough the initial dose of fentanyl they give to most laboring mothers-to-be to "take the edge off" labor pains. Astounding.

More pictures later.

BTW, Colin took this picture. He's getting steadier with the camera. :-)

A puppet with lunch meat

Katie has graduated from the church's nursey to the toddler class. At today's class, the students made lunch bag puppets.

If you look carefully, you'll notice that Katie's puppet has a brownish, oblong attachment to its midsection. When we asked her what the brown object was, she declared, "it's lunch meat -- in case the puppet gets hungry."

As if we needed any further confirmation about what's top of mind for Katie. :-)

(Colin's graduated out of the toddler class to the next higher class as well -- he's having a bit of a rocky adjustment, but not too bad compared to his nursery to toddler transition, when there would be much wailing and gnashing of teeth. We're praying for a smooth transition to actual kindergarten as well. Fedora took him to a pre-kindergarten play date to meet some of the other kids earlier in the week.)

Car wash 2

Katie got into the act too. She has a love-hate relationship with getting wet. On the one hand, she loves splashing, showering, bathing, and swimming. On the other hands, she hates it when her clothes are wet. If she accidentally splashes some milk or juice on her shirt, she'll moan, "I need a new shirt, my shirt it wet."

She did this during the car wash, but relented to stay in her slightly damp clothes while we washed mommy's car. I guess her desire to play with water (and be part of the action) outweighed her desire to be in dry clothes.

(I'm experimenting with Blogger's small picture size. I notice that medium-sized pictures don't wrap well because the template forces a pretty narrow column size, and that large-sized pictures don't crop at all. If you have a picture size preference, vote by adding a comment.)

Car wash 1

Today was the perfect day for a car wash, so we washed both cars. The kids had a great time spraying, soaping, and splashing.

Here is Colin giving his great big fake "cheese" expression while he sprays the car.

Reader Rabbit, anyone?

We moved the computer out of the guest bedroom to make room for the bunkbed. Now that the computer is in the living/dining room, the kids and their friends have rediscovered some of the computer games they used to play when they were younger -- like Reader Rabbit Toddler and Tonka 2.

As you can tell, the games are quite captivating for Colin, Katie, and Rachel.

"We're not sleepy"

Last weekend, Fedora attended a wedding while I had the kids for the afternoon. I took a nap while they claimed not to be sleepy.

Here's what I found after I woke up. :-)

Colin's photography career continues

Colin hasn't quite mastered the "half press for focus" technique yet, but that hasn't dampened his enthusiasm for taking pictures of his toys, his animal friends, mommy, cups and plates, his stickers, various books, his own hand, and other subjects.

I've showed him how he can get the camera to focus by pressing down halfways on the shutter release button, but he protests -- "but I can still tell what things are even if they are blurry."

Waiting expectantly at Costco

No, they're not begging for anything in particular -- just waiting expectanctly for Costo samples.

At one point, I think Costco might have been Katie's favorite restaurant. :-)

Rob, Jen, and Baby Aidan

Rob, Jen, and Baby Aidan were in the Bay Area for a whirlwind visit. Aidan is turning out to be quite the mellow little boy -- we didn't hear a single peep out of him throughout the service or during lunch afterwards.

He's almost 20 pounds now but feels heavier than Katie (who is probably 24). It's his density. :-)

Amusingly, he loves the word chickpea. Saying it will just make him grin. As will sticking your tongue out at him.

BTW, this is the first picture I've posted using Blogger's new picture feature. It gives you a little more control over how the text wraps compared to photos that came in from Picasa (via Hello). But it's a little harder to find the photo, because it uses the browser's "Upload" interface that calls up the File Open dialog.